This disclosure relates to mattresses, and more particularly, the disclosure relates to the use of polymer fiber structures for tuning characteristics of the mattress. Methods of tuning a mattress are also disclosed.
Most sitting and sleeping surfaces today have a combination of coil springs and foam. Manufacturers attempt to tune the feel of the spring/foam combination to achieve durability and comfort. In most or all instances manufacturers attempt to refine the tuning characteristics of the mattress or seating cores by manipulating motion transfer, vibration, damping, zones within the seating or sleeping surface, and/or load/deflection curves.
Foam is used in most mattresses. Foam chemistries have been manipulated to create a conventional inexpensive polyurethane foam core to a fairly expensive viscoelastic foam core. Foam has also been used on the outside of a spring core assembly, or innerspring, as topper layers and as rails or skirts. Current typical spring core constructions might also include a bonnell construction, which is fairly inexpensive, or a complex pocket coil construction, which is a spring within a spring. Another type of construction is to provide a foam slab or core without using a coil spring core.
Almost all spring core mattresses adjust tuning characteristics by connecting the springs a certain way or giving the spring a certain predefined stress. However, some mattresses have utilized foam structures inserts in the spring core to tune the spring core assembly. Such mattresses are difficult to process during manufacture, are expensive and lack recyclability.